Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Delegates - Are You Attending the FGS 2011 Conference?

[Note: this post is directed towards FGS Delegates. Each FGS member society elects a delegate to represent the society at the FGS annual conference and other functions. If you would like to be a delegate but your genealogy society is not a member of FGS, see the Membership Information page.]

Dear Delegates,

By now, I hope you have added the 2011 Federation of Genealogical Societies/Illinois State Genealogical Society Conference to your calendar. The dates are September 7-10, 2011 in historic Springfield, Illinois.

We hope you are passing the FGS Voice conference news on to your society’s board members, editors, webmaster, and letting your members know about the conference. Please feel free to use any of the conference announcements in the Voice or the FGS Conference News Blog for your own website or publications, both off and online. Just add a line that tells where the information is from and add the FGS website URL. Check the conference website under Media for details on a contest for member societies that might result in your society winning a free conference registration for the 2012 conference.

Have you scheduled a presentation to your society’s board about the importance of delegates attending the conference? Just the networking with other delegates, society board members and other dedicated volunteers is enough to make it worthwhile. Discussions of successes, problems, budget, volunteers and other topics apply to most societies. It’s a day to participate, ask questions, and discuss such things. The variety of lectures that “Focus on Societies” deliver so much that will be valuable to the workings of your society.

Ask your board to join you in Springfield to attend the conference sessions dedicated to the workings of genealogical societies. Tell them about the extensive sessions that will help their own genealogical research. Because the conference takes place in a given state, doesn’t mean that the sessions only relate to research in that state. The topics cover a myriad of states, research repositories, methodologies, and more.

If you register by 11:59 p.m. on July 1, 2011 you will be registering at the discount price. At midnight the cost goes up by $50.00.